I got a notice in the mail the other day that my CNA (certified nurse's assistant) certification is expiring soon. I threw it in the trash.
For a little while, I thought that I had wanted to become a physician's assistant, or go on to med school. Both of those options required getting 1000+ 'clinical' hours in order to even apply to the programs.
So, one summer I shelled out $600, missed my family's annual vacation to the beach, and enrolled in a CNA training course. Two months later, I was employed.
I quickly found I absolutely hated being a CNA. I typically worked late into the night, and spent the end of every shift just sitting in a nearby McDonald's parking lot drinking chemical-y tasting smoothies for about a solid hour.
(Supposedly this isn't all that uncommon either. I have a friend who spent a brief amount of time working at a nursing home, and spent an hour before every shift crying in the parking lot. This job's tough, I'm telling you.)
Working with staff that makes it clear that they do not like you, cleaning diapers all day long, the horrible pay, and seeing how those people were treated by the other staff just about made me sick at the end of every shift.
That, and I was constantly afraid that this was going to happen while helping someone use the restroom.
And so, when I had saved up enough money, and found another job, I got outta there. And as a result, that "notice of expiration" letter is sitting, and will remain sitting, in a dump somewhere in the South.
